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19 posts from March 2007

Mar 31, 2007

The birthday of Prophet Muhammad, our most blessed role model. From Nasir Khusraw:

Of Muhammad
I chose the Qur’an
and the faith of Muhammad,
for that is the choice
that was made by Muhammad.
I’m certain by faithfully
following these,
my certitude will
be like that of Muhammad.
My key for the heavens,
my guide to delight,
my fortified castle:
the faith of Muhammad!
Muhammad is sent as
God’s prophet to us:
thus is the imprint
of the seal of Muhammad.
The faith, the Qur’an
they are fixed in my heart
just as they were fixed
in the heart of Muhammad.
My hope is to be
by the grace of the Lord
the lowliest one
in the folk of Muhammad.
In the ocean of faith
you see, the Qur’an
is the most precious pearl
in the hand of Muhammad.
As every king
has a treasure concealed,
thus is the Qur’an:
treasure trove of Muhammad!
Now look at the jewel
that sits on this treasure!
Whom do you consider
the trustee of Muhammad?
His followers find
yonder jewel of faith
from nobody else
but the sons of Muhammad.
Muhammad entrusted
his treasure and goods
to one person, worthy
and close to Muhammad.
Who was such a close
friend? He whose dear wife
was none but the darling
black-eyed, of Muhammad.
From this darling child
and that cousin appeared
Hasan and Husayn,
letters close to Muhammad.
I know certainly this:
Hasan and Husayn
are jasmine and rose
in both worlds, of Muhammad.
Where could such a rose
and such a jasmine appear
in both worlds but out
of the soil of Muhammad!
I don’t dare select
any one among men
above these two sons,
lovely sons of Muhammad;
I don’t dare select
anyone above them
I would be ashamed
of the frown of Muhammad!
The sword of pure Haydar,
the mighty Qur’an
are cornerstones of
the strong faith of Muhammad,
for he stood as master
and with Dhu’l-fiqar
in every fight
to the right of Muhammad.
Since Ali’s sword helped
the mighty Qur’an;
Ali was the helper,
no doubt, for Muhammad.
As Aaron to Moses,
so was Ali in rank
A partner in faith
and close to Muhammad.
On Doomsday both Moses
and Aaron will kiss
the mantle of Ali,
the hem of Muhammad.
Muhammad’s religion
resembled a thicket:
The lion: Ali,
in the woods of Muhammad.
Muhammad said: ‘Go,
and seek wisdom in China!’
I went to that China,
the land of Muhammad.
I heard from the heir
of the Prophet such words
which were like the honey,
so sweet, of Muhammad!

Mar 21, 2007

Yes, it is a hybrid date format. But the holiday is now hybrid. Little bit of Zoroastrianism, little bit of Iranian nationalism, little bit of Islam, little bit of 21st century style globalization.

Here is a good, short history of contemporary Navroz. Just a clarification, the Ismailis don't recognize Navroz as Hazrat Ali's birthday, we recognize Yawm-e Ali as a separate holiday. Navroz is also a marker of the solar new year for most Ismailis. The Fatimids marked a celebration of the holiday as well in the 11th century. (see Ritual, Politics and the City in Fatimid Cairo).

Here's the Wikipedia article, including reference to the haft sīn (هفتسین), the seven “s” that are used to celebrate the New Year in Persianate cultures.

So to all, Navroz Mubarak. May you have a wonderful and happy new year.

My friend Eboo Patel, founder of the Interfaith Youth Core, has a blog over at Newsweek, and I've been meaning to plug it for a while now. What's prompted me to do so now is his most recent posting Discrimination Against Muslims, which has forced me to pen some thoughts that I've been kicking around for awhile now. Aziz, too, has a piece on people's understanding of the West and Islam, which highlights some of the issues I've been thinking about.

For me, Eboo's key quote is:

Read how the commentators insist on highlighting only the dark sides of Islam, making some things up, taking other things out of context and dramatically twisting the tradition to which I belong. Doesn’t every nation/religion/tradition have a dark side?

And Aziz' entire post is filled with the same sort of blind searching for hatred in Islam.

Muslims do hateful things in the name of religion. There is no doubt of this. They read scripture to support their arguments, as do those who claim that Islam is a religion of violence. As Eboo correctly notes, every religious tradition has a “dark side.” (I'm also a huge Star Wars fan, but I'm not sure it has a place in this discourse.) It seems that those who claim Islam is a religion of hate and/or violence are those embrace an understanding of faith that is based on hate and/or violence. The key distinction seems to be that their understanding of hate/violence is justified, whereas that of Muslims is not. I am not advocating hate/violence in the name of any religion, in fact, I condemn it, but I am attempting to put the debate in some context.

Those who claim is Islam is full of hate, do not offer their religious perspective as being full of love. Their words may say so, but their actions are say otherwise. I would like to meet the religious critic of Islam who says Islam teaches hate, and his faith teaches love, except for gays, women, people of color, etc., whom their God hates. Pat Robertson and Osama bin Laden have the same understanding of Islam because they read from a position of hate. But the reverse is true as well, Pat Robertson and Osama bin Laden have the same understanding of Christianity because they read from a position of hate.

There a great deal of good, honest criticisms that can be made of Muslims and interpretation of scripture. To say that Muslims are hateful, and therefore must be hated, is not one of them. The objection, to me, seems to be that Muslims hate in a way different to their critics, so Muslims must really hate illogically (is there a logical way to hate?), and it puts Muslims on the low end of a scale of hateful/hated. The debate over whose God hates more is not one I want to engage in, but it seems to be the dominant form of debate when it comes to Islam.

Just needed to get that off my chest. You may think your God hates more than my God. You may think my God hates more than your God. Don't care. My God doesn't hate. I don't hate you for hating me. Don't care. My God is the most Compassionate and the most Merciful. I can only strive to realize that.

The Department of Justice did a good thing by forcing New York's Dept. of Corrections to allow Muslim men to wear a kufi. I particularly like the line in the article “A kufi is a knitted skullcap that carries religious significance for many Muslim men.” The key element, of course, is that it carries significance for some Muslim men, not all.

Mar 15, 2007

A. This is a huge violation of church and state in my opinion. Public schools should not be holding services in any religious space. Period.

B. The kid is a moron. It's not about him being Muslim. Let's not get stupid with him.

To the best of my knowledge there is no legal tradition that prevents Muslims from entering house of worship of other faiths. There are reservations (and prohibitions) about joint worship, but not actually entering the space. The closest I've heard about this religious image issue is from an Orthodox Jewish friend of mine who would not set foot in a church because of the cross. Of course, as commentators on the SP thread note, where are the limits of this ban? What of museum pieces? Churches turned into museum, a la Hagia Sophia? Clearly the intent and use of such iconography must be taken into account.

I have delivered talks in churches, but would not enter one of those churches during my graduation with my master's in theology because it was a religious service. I have no problem with inter-faith worship, but I shouldn't be forced to worship, either in my own faith tradition, or any others. However, in that context, the cross was a powerful religious symbol that marginalized me and my faith. My decision was not based on a systematic legal ruling, but a personal decision made for my particular context. There was no reason to make a public issue it, other than to discuss it with administrators so they were aware.

I feel bad for the boy, but he can't make his Islam my Islam, and he shouldn't minimize our faith and personalize an issue that is bigger than him.

Within 24 hours I read two different blog posting, that taken together basically say we should do more profiling at the airports because it's pointless. OMFG, is anybody running the US government literate?